


Damaged Files, Restored Hearts

by phantomdieb



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: I feel your pain Lance, M/M, some feelies for the near end of summer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-15
Updated: 2016-09-15
Packaged: 2018-08-15 01:41:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8037262
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/phantomdieb/pseuds/phantomdieb
Summary: After they get into yet another fight, Shiro forces Lance and Keith to work on their next project together.Worst disaster or best possible decision?





	Damaged Files, Restored Hearts

“We will always be best friends, right?”  
  
“Right!”  
  
“And we will marry each other, right?”  
  
“Right!”  
  
“Swear it!”  
  
“I swear, that I will always be your best friend and that I will marry you!”  
  
They hooked their pinkies and started to giggle.

  
  
–

  
  
“Hey hey hey,” he stood underneath the window he knew belonged to his best friend a few years later.  
  
“It's time to get up, sleepy head. We wanted to go fishing, remember?”  
But he didn't get an answer.  
  
“Wake up!” he yelled a little louder. A window opened – but it was the window of his best friend's neighbour.  
  
“Son, it's no use. They moved away yesterday,” they said.  
  
“What? No that can't be! We wanted to go fishing!”  
  
“I saw them leave with my own eyes.”  
  
His world shattered.

  
  
–

  
  
He was sitting on his mother's lap and clung to her. “Mama, he didn't even say goodbye.”  
  
She pulled him closer to her chest and stroked his hair. “Sometimes that's how it is, darling.”  
  
He looked up at her, his eyes wide and full of tears that threatened to spill. “Did he forget about me?”  
  
She took his face into her hands and pressed a kiss to his forehead. “I'm sure he didn't. You are best friends, right? Best friends don't forget each other. I'm sure he thinks about you right now just like you think about him.”  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yes, really.”  
  
He cried into his mother's chest.

  
  
–

  
  
“You should go out and play with the other children. It's such a nice weather outside.”  
  
But he just slightly shook his head. “Don't wanna.”  
  
His mother sighed. He had been like this ever since his best friend had left. She hoped that his sadness would pass quick. It broke her heart to see her son like this. Especially since there was nothing that she could do about it.

  
  
–

  
  
“I'm glad that he's getting better again. He had been so sad this entire time. For how long, did you say?”  
  
His mother took a sip from her tea. “It's been over a month.” She put the cup down again and watched her son and her friend's daughter play together. “I can tell that he's still not over it. But he's getting there.”  
  
She smiled as her son came running to her, a big smile plastered on his face.  
  
Yeah, he was definitely getting there.

  
  
–

  
  
“Hey hey, do you remember that guy you used to play with all the time? What was his name again?”  
  
“Huh? Who do you mean?”  
  
“Your best friend, of course!”  
  
“Who?”  
  
He wasn't asked again.  


  
  
_20 years later._

  
  
  
“Man, this guy sucks!” He chugged down his beer and stuck out his tongue in disgust. “This beer sucks as well.”  
  
Hunk looked over at his friend. “You're still ordering it everytime. Maybe you should, you know, order something else.”  
  
“No no, this disgusting beer is just right. It's as disgusting as Keith.”  
  
“Did you get into an argument again?” Hunk asked, his eyebrows raised.  
  
Lance rubbed his face with his hands.  
“He's just so.. so… _ridiculous_. You won't believe it. And just. His mullet is so stupid! I can't even describe it. It's.. you know?”  
  
“A mullet?”  
  
“Yeah exactly! And he totally freaked out earlier. Just because I accidentally spilled some coffee on his pants! He made such a fuss out of it. Stupid idiot.”  
  
“What happened then?”  
  
“He yelled at me. I yelled at him. And then Shiro came out of his office told us to quit fighting and allowed Keith to go home and change his pants. I swear, Hunk, Keith looked like he wanted to kill me.”  
  
“Maybe you should quit fighting with him then?” Hunk suggested  
  
“It wasn't even my fault! It was an accident and still he acted like a baby.” Lance huffed if frustration.  
  
“To be completely honest, with all those pranks you've played on him, it's not a surprise. I probably would have thought that this was on purpose as well.”  
  
Lance looked at him as if he'd betrayed him.  
“Great. Thank you, buddy, for supporting me.”  
  
Hunk raised his arms in a defensive pose.  
“Look, Lance. I'm just trying to help. I'm saying that if you stopped teasing him, work would probably be easier for you. For both of you, actually.”  
  
“It was an accident though!”  
  
“This time. Come on, you told me yourself about all those pranks you've already played on him. Just try to be nice to him once. Even if you can't stand him.”  
  
“Nice? To Keith? Did you hit your head?”  
  
Hunk was unimpressed.  
“I'm not telling you to take him out for dinner or something. Just.. let him work in peace. Concentrate on your own work. Don't tease him or make fun of him. I don't know if it's possible but just... stay away from him. That would be the easiest way.”  
  
Lance sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “Fine. I'll give it a try.”  
And then: “Another beer, please.”  
  
  
When Lance entered the office, Keith was already there, working. He shot Lance a glance but then looked back onto his screen. Oh, so he was ignoring him? Fine. He could do that as well.  
  
He set down his bag at his desk until he realized that it had been indeed his plan. Ignore Keith and not get into trouble. Yeah. He could do that. With a sigh he sat down on his chair and turned on his computer. As far as he knew he had to do some minor changes on a project that was nearly finished. His client had been satisfied so far. Lance smiled to himself and clicked on the mail. Bingo – just like he had expected. A few details and he should be done. Lance cracked his knuckles and began to work.  
  
About two hours later he leaned back and looked at it. This seemed to be good. Lance was truely satisfied with it. Now he only had to hope that his client was satisfied as well.  
  
Lance was about to save the file when suddenly all lights went out.  
“No! No no no no no. Come on,” he muttered to himself.  
  
The lights flickered back on a few moments later. Computers in the whole office restarted themselves and Lance took a deep breath. Okay. That had been his fault for not immediately saving it. He had lost two hours of work, but he could simply redo it. No big deal. No reason to panic.  
That was, until he clicked onto the file to open it – and nothing happened.  
  
Lance stared at his screen. “Oh, come on. I don't have time for that now.” The computers were a few years old and would sometimes bug around, much to the annoyance of everyone.  
  
He double-clicked the file again. But still nothing happened. Lance could feel his heart pounding in his chest. “Come on. Open it. Please just open it,” he muttered at his screen. He restarted his computer, but even that didn't help. He couldn't open the file. It was damaged. With shaking hands Lance searched up online for a way to repair it, but everything he tried was without success. His file, his almost finished project, was irreparably damaged.  
  
Lance leaned back against his chair. His arms limply hung by his sides. He gave up. He was defeated. He was sure that his day couldn't get any worse.  
  
He should've known that it was a mistake thinking so.  
  
  
Someone stopped behind him and when Lance looked up, he saw Keith standing there. Great.  
  
“What happened?” Keith asked him with a scowl on his face which pissed off Lance even more than he already was.  
  
“This fucking blackout damaged the file of my finished project because I didn't save it and now it's broken! That happened!” he growled angrily at Keith.  
  
The other raised an eyebrow. “Didn't you learn to always save it first?”  
  
Something in Lance snapped. Who the fuck did that fucking elitist think he is?  
  
Lance jumped to his feet and before Keith could react, he had already been punched by him.  
  
“WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?” he screamed at Lance and held his hand to his hurting nose. Lance was a bit shocked to see that he was bleeding, but then his anger got hold of him again.  
  
“WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME? NOTHING! I JUST CAN'T STAND YOUR STUPID ELITIST BULLSHIT ANYMORE. YOU SHOULD HAVE THIS AND THAT! FUCKING LET ME DO MY WORK MY OWN WAY!” Lance shouted back.  
  
Keith opened his mouth and was about to yell back at him when someone squeezed between them. When Lance looked up, he saw Shiro. Oh shit.  
  
“Lance. Keith. Into my office. Now.”  
  
He gulped and without looking at Keith or anyone else in the office, he followed Shiro.  
  
  
Not that he would ever admit it out loud, but whenever Shiro looked at him with that intensity which he had now, Lance always felt trapped. His hands were sweating and he dried them on his pants. He was so nervous that he barely noticed Keith stopping beside him.  
  
Shiro handed Keith a handkerchief before he sat down and leaned back in his chair.  
“What was that about?”  
  
Lance wanted to explain himself, but Keith was faster.  
“He just fucking punched me.”  
  
“That's not true!” Lance yelled back. But one look from Shiro shut him up again.  
  
“I was asking why he was so frustrated and then he punched me.”  
  
“Yeah, after you said how I should've saved the file. Like, don't you think I don't know that myself? I was about to save it when that fucking blackout happened, okay? I don't need your smartassery but it seems that's all you can ever do! You should've this, you should've that! Don't stick your nose into my business!”  
  
“I was just trying to be nice and remind you that you're supposed to save your files. Especially as soon as you've finished them so that this wouldn't happen!”  
  
“I don't need your advice!”  
  
“Enough!” Shiro interrupted their fighting and pinched the bridge of his nose.  
  
“What is that about a file that you said, Lance?”  
  
“I finished that project I was working on like I was supposed to be. But right before I could save it the blackout happened and now the file won't open because it's damaged.” Lance rubbed his eyes with the pads of his hands. “I was supposed to finish it today and send it to the client tomorrow morning and now I just. I have to start all over again.”  
  
Shiro's eyes widened. “Didn't you save it onto a memory stick?”  
  
Lance's hands stopped moving before he lowered them. “Actually, I think I did.”  
  
“See? So you don't have to start from scratch again. I think you should be able to finish it if you stay a little longer today. That's for one. For a second: if I ever see or hear about you punching someone else again, you'll face serious consequences, do you understand me?”  
  
“Yes, Sir! It won't happen again.” Lance resisted the urge to salute in reaction to Shiro's tone of voice.  
  
“As for you, Keith. I hope you won't stick your nose into others businesses again, especially if you know that they don't want that.”  
  
“Yes, of course.”  
  
“Good. Still, your behavior has to be punished, I'm sure you understand that.”  
Neither Lance not Keith dared to move.  
“I will think about it and tell you tomorrow. Now go back to your work. Especially you, Lance. You need every second you can get.”  
  
“Yes, Sir. Thank you.”  
  
  
Once Lance closed the door behind himself, he glared at Keith. “That's all your fault.”  
  
Keith shot him an angry look. “I'd argue with you, but my nose is still bleeding and you have a project to work on, if I remember correctly. Now excuse me.”  
  
If Lance was pissed now, it was only because he knew that Keith was right.  
He returned to his seat and ignored the curious looks of his co-workers by searching for his memory stick.

  
After all he had some work to do.

  
  
–  
  


The next morning, Lance dragged himself into Shiro's office more asleep then awake. He felt, well, kinda dead. Next to him stood Keith. His nose was a bit swollen, but other than that he seemed perfectly fine.  
  
“Good morning, you two. How's your nose, Keith?” Shiro asked him, his voice filled with geniune concern.  
  
“Okay,” the other grumbled in response. “It's not broken so the swelling should go back soon.”  
  
Shiro nodded. “I'm glad to hear that. What about you, Lance? Did you finish the project?”  
  
“Finished it and already sent it to the client.”  
  
“Fantastic. So, I thought about the punishment for your behavior yesterday, and I came to the conclusion that rather than just a simple punishment, we should take the bull by his horns and  
let you work on your behaviour around each other so that something like that really won't ever happen again. Which is why I decided to let you two work on your next project together.”  
  
“What?” Keith and Lance yelled in unison. “No way!” Keith added then.  
  
“And your reaction just proves that it's the right thing to do. You'll work together and that's it.”  
  
“Shiro, you can't do that!” Lance whined, but it only earned himself an unimpressed look. “I can and I will. And if you keep complaining, I'll assign a second project to you afterwards as well.”  
  
Lance gulped and looked over at Keith. Working with him on a project. Sure, he was good at what he was doing, but Lance just _knew_ that this was bound to be a disaster. An absolute catastrophy. Them working together would _never_ work.  
  
“Well then, I hope to see some good results from you two soon.”  
  
  
“Just so you know,” Lance hissed at Keith once they left the office. “I'm not working with you because I want to.”  
  
Keith just rolled with his eyes, which made Lance's blood boil again. “Obviously. It's the same for me. Now get to work and read the assignment. Let's get this done quickly so I don't have to see you for longer than necessary.”  
  
Lance wanted to reply with something witty, but decided against it. Even if he hated to admit it, Keith was right. The faster they got this assignment done, the faster he'd be free from him.  
  
And he was sure to work twice as hard no only so that he wouldn't have to see him anymore, but also because he didn't want to lose to him.  
Not this time.  
  
  
By the time he had read the assignment and worked out a first draft, he had downed his third mug of black coffee. Which was a mistake. Because now it was break time and he could've napped if it wasn't for all the caffeine in his system. So instead of getting some sleep, he was forced to stay awake. And if that wasn't enough already, Keith was with him. And he tried to talk about their project.  
  
“Dude, you know that we're on break right now, right? Save the talk for later. I'm too tired to properly listen to you anyways.”  
  
He watched as Keith's eyebrows furrowed. “Then take a nap.”  
  
“I would, if I hadn't had three mugs of coffee.”  
  
But Keith just cocked his head.  
“And that's stopping you?”  
  
“Well, yes?” Keith was getting on his nerves again. On purpose. Who else would ask something like that? “All that caffeine is keeping me awake. That's literally what coffee does and why people drink it, idiot.”  
  
“You're an idiot yourself. I can drink all the coffee I want and still fall asleep the second right after.” Keith crossed his arms defensively and looked at Lance.  
  
“Wait, really?” Lance was to tired to hide that he was honestly impressed.  
  
“Yeah really.”  
  
“Then what is keeping you awake if you have to work late into the night?” Lance asked him curiously. He would blame it on his lack of sleep later, that he had been holding a somewhat normal conversation with Keith.  
  
The other shrugged. “I don't know. Determination? Willpower? Stubborness?”  
  
“You're not normal,” Lance whispered at him, his eyes wide. “Seriously, what the fuck is wrong with you?”  
  
Keith just sighed and turned away.  
“Eat something and then let's start working.”  
  
“I'm not sacrificing my precious break for work, you damn workaholic.”  
  
“Well, then it's time for you to look at the clock because your 'precious break' is going to end in fifteen minutes.”  
  
“What?” A look on the clock told Lance that Keith was right. Once again.  
“Shit. Fuck.”  
  
Now he had to hurry.  
  
  
“Hunk, Buddy. Guess what happened today?” He didn't even waited for his answer before he continued. “So I told you about the fight with Keith yesterday? When I punched him and stuff. And like, Shiro called us into his office again and now I have to WORK ON A PROJECT WITH HIM! How cruel is that? And he's pissing me off already with his stupid comments and his even more stupid mullet. I'm just so done.”  
  
“Lance, take a breath. It's your own fault for punching him,” he could hear Hunk's voice through the phone.  
  
“It's his fault for making that stupid comment. 'You should've saved your file.' Yeah as if I don't know that!”  
  
“Still, you shouldn't have reacted how you did,” Hunk tried to reason again. “I know that there are times when violence _is_ the answer, but this clearly wasn't one of those times. It's your own fault so you gotta endure this. And you should probably not make another ruckus.”  
  
“Yeah I know, Shiro said that he'd otherwise pair us up for a second project. I'd just die then.”  
  
“Well then. You know what you have to do. Show that great skills of yours and make it your best project.”  
  
“Hell yeah, that's what I intended to do anyways. I'm gonna beat Keith and then I'll laugh in his face!”  
  
“Lance, this is not a competition! He's your _partner_!”  
  
But Lance had already hung up.  
  
  
“Your idea is shit.” Keith feet tapped on the floor.  
  
Another thing Lance hated. “Well, so is yours.”  
  
Keith glared at him. “You didn't even _see_ my idea yet.”  
  
“Well, I don't have to because it's your idea and it will be shit anyways.”  
  
Keith slammed his hands on the table. “Stop being a baby and start working seriously.”  
  
“I am working seriously!”  
  
“No you don't!”  
  
“Yes I am!”  
  
They glared at each other.  
  
“Listen, Lance. I'm trying to get this done as fast as I can so we're off this whole,” he gestured with his hands, “...thing. But you're making it very hard.”  
  
“Well, guess what, buddy? You're not the only one thinking and working here so get off your high horse! And you saying that my idea is shit isn't helping to move forward at all.”  
  
“But it is shit.”  
  
“So is your mullet but do you see me throwing that into your face like that? No, you dont!” he already answered his own question. “How about you give some constructive criticism for once in your life?”  
  
That seemed to throw Keith off.  
“You want… constructive criticism?”  
  
“I've just said so, haven't I?” Lance crossed his arms and scowled at him. “So tell me, Mr. Elitist. What about my idea is so 'shit', as you have worded it?”  
  
  
By the time Keith was finished listing everything, Lance wished that he never had asked for Keith's opinion. Because as much as it irked him, he was right about most of the things. In reply, he gave Keith the same criticism and pointed out every single flaw in his idea. He didn't say it out loud, but he had really enjoyed the frustrated look that formed on Keith's face when he realized that Lance was right. They settled on creating second ideas and presenting them to each other, but the outcome was nearly the same.  
  
“Okay,” Keith said after realizing that their individual ideas weren't useful at all. “This is not gonna work this way.”  
  
“Oh yeah? You don't say.”  
  
Keith ignored his sarcastic remark. “We need to approach this another way.”  
  
“And what do you suggest, Mr. I-know-it-all?”  
  
This time, Keith stared at him, but then he sighed. “We should create an idea together, instead of creating our own because that's clearly not working.”  
  
“Meaning I have to spend even more time with you? No thank you.”  
  
“I'm not happy about that either. But it might help us finding something to work with faster.”  
  
Once again, it was all logical. Stupid Keith and his logic.  
“Fine.”  
  
“Glad we agree then.”  
  
  
“Not bad.” Lance slowly turned from the screen to Keith and stared at him in horror. Did he just say something… not negative to him?  
  
When Keith noticed Lance staring, he crossed his arms. “What?”  
  
Lance playfully wiped a fake tear from his eye. “This is the first time you've said something remotely nice to me. It's a historical day.”  
  
Keith punched his shoulder, but there was no force behind it.  
“Stop it already and get back to work.”  
  
“Ayy, Sir.”  
  
“And stop mocking me.”  
  
“Okay, Sir.”  
  
“Lance!”  
  
Lance just laughed.  
  
  
“Okay, our idea in general was great, but what the fuck did you make out of it? This looks horrible!” Keith's forehead wrinkled. “Honestly Lance, I thought you were at least decent at your work.”  
  
“Well, maybe it's just you, having a horrible taste,” he tried to defend himself. Lance crossed his arms. But in his heart he knew that Keith was right. It indeed looked horrible. He had finished it at four am, being a bit tipsy because he had been out with Hunk all evening and had only realized that he had a project to work on when he had come home.  
“Where's your part of it anyways, huh?”  
  
Keith pulled the memory stick out of his pocket and connected it to the computer. He leaned over Lance, who sat in his desk chair, and used the mouse to open his file. All while being painfully oblivious to the way Lance stared at his arms.  
The latter gulped. Okay. Close up they really were nice. Like, really really nice. Extremely nice. He wanted to touch th-  
  
“Are you listening?”  
  
Lance's eyes shot up and he looked into Keith's face. _Too close_.  
“Uhm, yeah. Sure. Tell me about it.”  
  
An exasperated sigh left Keith's lips and he stood up straight again.  
“There isn't much to say to that though. I used these colours because I thought that they'd fit. I held it simple, too. Didn't put much around the product. So, what do you say?”  
  
At first, Lance said nothing.  
“Hello? Earth to Lance?”  
  
But Lance still didn't answer. Because he suddenly had an idea.  
  
“KEITH!” he suddenly yelled out and startled not only him, but also his other co-workers. “You're a genius!”  
  
“Uhm, thank you? But why so sudden?”  
  
“I just had the perfect idea for this project!”  
  
  
Keith could just watch as Lance wrote something down, typing so fast that Lance himself was sure to find at least fifty mistakes in there. If not more. Then he started to map something out, still not explaining what his idea was.  
  
“Lance-” Keith tried to ask him, but the other shushed him.  
  
“Give me a second, before I forget it.” Because if Lance had learned anything, it was to not trust his tired brain to remember anything. Always write it down. _Always!_  
He saved it and leaned back with a sigh.  
  
“Now you can ask me!”  
  
“So, what is that brilliant idea of yours?”  
  
Lance began to explain.  
  
  
A few weeks later, they were finished and handed it in to Shiro for judgement.  
Time to wait.  
  
  
Just two days later, Shiro called them into his office.  
  
Lance would lie if he said that he wasn't nervous. Yet, that didn't mean that anyone had to know, right?  
  
“Keith,” Shiro looked at the adressed before his eyes turned to Lance. “and Lance.”  
  
Silence filled the room for a moment.  
“So, you've finished your project. Even ahead of time. Congratulations.”  
  
Both Lance and Keith knew that it was too early to celebrate yet.  
  
“So, about your project...”  
  
Lance gulped and hid his fidgeting fingers behind his back as he watched Shiro reaching for a stack of papers, a copy of their project.  
  
“To be honest, I didn't expect that,” Shiro said with a stern voice and the alarm started to ring in Lance's brain. They had fucked it up somehow. Shit shit shit. And he had been so sure!  
“I didn't expect you to submit a work that's been the best in your entire career yet. From both of you.”  
  
Wait, what?  
  
“I did think that you'd be good together, maybe even better than normally, but you truely outdid yourself here. Really, congratulations, you two. The client had been more than satisfied with it.”  
  
“You already sent it to them?” Keith asked, his voice slightly trembling.  
  
Shiro just nodded. “And the client told me that they'd be absolutely delighted if he could get the same designers for their next project as well.” Then he smiled at them. “Once again, congratulations.”  
  
Both Lance and Keith started to laugh, They turned to each other and hugged tightly.  
  
“We did it!”  
  
“Yeah, man, we did it!”  
  
Only a few moments later they seemed to notice how weird it was and let go of each other. Lance's hands suddenly feeling much colder than before.  
  
Shiro smiled satisfied.  
  
“I see, you stopped that stupid fight that's been going on between you two as well. Very good. You two can go now.”  
  
Lance held the doorknob in his hand and was about to open it when Shiro spoke up again.  
“You know, it's not a bad thing to be competitive and have a rival. It can lead to many great things and you can encourage each other so that you get even better than you were before. Just don't let it escalate again, okay?”  
  
Lance didn't dare to look at Keith, so he just nodded and opened the door.  
  
  
“Man, for a second I thought he was gonna chew us and then spit us back out. I really thought that we had fucked it up.” Lance closed his eyes and massaged his left shoulder a bit.  
  
“No way! It was really great.” Keith sounded really happy.  
  
“I guess it was.” Lance grinned at Keith and when Keith suddenly grinned back at him, his heart started to beat faster and his ears grow red.  
  
No.  
  
No no no no no. It was time to backpedal here.  
  
What was wrong with him? He couldn't be falling for him. He _wasn't_ falling for him. He could never. It was _Keith._  
  
But then again he had thought that working with him was impossible. And yet he had done it. And submitted his best work ever thanks to that.  
  
“Great,” he mumbled quietly to himself, but Keith picked it up.  
  
“What?” he asked.  
  
“Nothing. I just thought that we should celebrate this.”  
What? No this wasn't what he wanted. Sometimes he hated his mouth for being faster than his brain.  
  
“Oh, why not? Actually, I got a bottle of champagne recently but I don't really drink alone so let's head over to my place later.”  
  
Lance felt his stomach turn, both from nervousness and anticipation. He wanted that. His heart told him to go for it. While his mind screamed at him. _This is Keith. Your rival. You used to hate him guts. How can you do this?_  
  
“Yeah, sure!”  
  
He let his heart win this time.  
  
  
“You know, you're not as bad as I thought,” Keith told him when they entered his apartment and Lance screamed inside.  
  
“Same goes to you. You can actually be kinda nice,” he managed to croak out a little more than just a bit nervous now. But Keith didn't seem to notice.  
  
“You can make yourself comfortable in the living room. Just down the corridor, you can't miss it. I'm gonna get the bottle.”  
  
“Uhm, yeah okay.”  
  
Lance walked into the living room and let himself fall onto the couch. He had to admit that it was a very soft and very comfortable couch.  
  
Just as soft and comfortable as Keith had felt in his arms when they had hugged…  
  
Okay, this was getting _really_ gay, _really_ fast.  
  
Lance sighed  
He knew that he'd have to either tell Keith because he'd end up telling him anyways because sometimes he didn't think before talking. Or he had to distance himself from him. Which his heart protested already in all ways. Lance fiddled with his fingers again. He couldn't exactly just walk up to him and say that he kinda… liked him? He doubted that Keith would believe him anyways. As much as that thought hurt.  
  
But what else could he do? His mind suggested him to do an impressive dance that would end up in confetti bombs and a wall scroll opening behind him saying 'Hey, you're cute. Wanna make out?' He snorted and shook his head. This wasn't some TV show in which Lance was the protagonist and would make his love interest Keith laugh with this. Keith would probably react exactly the other way and throw him out.  
  
Still, confetti bombs were a great idea, Lance noted down mentally.  
  
  
He got up to walk around, too nervous to keep sitting still on that ridiculously comfortable couch. Only then he noticed the framed pictures Keith had hung up. It weren't many, mostly of couples. Different couples.  
And Lance asked himself what that meant – until he stumbled upon what seemed to be a very old picture. His breath hitched in his throat and he stood there rooted in one place. Lance didn't even notice Keith entering the living room until he heard him say: “What are you looking at?” He turned towards him.  
  
“This picture. Where did you get that? It... looks quite old.”  
  
Keith put down the bottle and the glasses and walked over. He stopped next to him and through the point of where their shoulders touched, Lance could feel the heat radiating from Keith's body. He felt like his heart was doing backflips in his chest now.  
  
“Oh, this one,” Keith answered finally. “This is a picture of my childhood best friend and me. I never got to say goodbye to him when I had to move. My mind was on something else back then, but still, I deeply regret that. Wait, why am I even telling you this?”  
  
Keith looked at Lance, with his arms crossed, as if he was expecting Lance to tease him for it. But Lance just stared at him. He took a deep breath and -  
  
“We will always be best friends, right?”  
  
Keith tilted his head in confusion at Lance's words.  
  
“And we will marry each other, right?”  
  
_Until he remembered._ Keith's face fell.  
  
“Swear it.”  
  
Lance watched Keith swallow.  
“I swear, that I will always be your best friend and that I will marry you!”  
  
In the next moment they were hugging each other tightly.  
“I can't believe that _you_ of all people-” Keith left his sentence unfinished and grabbed Lance even tighter, as if he was afraid that he'd just disappear if he let go of him.  
  
“I can't believe it myself,” Lance replied and hugged him tighter, completly ignoring his rapidly beating heart now.  
  
“What even happened, man? You left so suddenly back then and I- I just-” Lance bit his lip.  
  
Keith didn't let go and buried his face in Lance's shoulder.  
“My parents died. It-it was a car accident and I had to move to my aunt immediately since she was taking care of everything. But she didn't want me and so I ended up in several foster families. And I never got to go back home or explain properly to you.”  
  
Lance tightened his hug for a moment.  
“I'm sorry to hear that.”  
  
“It's fine. I've learned to live with it.”  
  
“Still. Man, I've missed you so much.”  
  
“I missed you, too. Honestly, once I've adapted to my parent's death, I was only thinking about how I left you behind. We wanted to go fishing. I promised you that.”  
  
“You still remember that? You're ridiculous,” Lance laughed.  
  
“So are you.”  
  
“Okay, but now that we found out about this, it's no longer weird that my heart is beating so fast when I'm close to you and I feel like people can sense all the gay thoughts I'm having.”  
  
“Wait, _what_?” Keith let go of him, but immediately grabbed his shoulders tightly. And he stared at Lance.  
  
Oh shit. There it was again. His mouth was faster than his brain. Lance looked away but he knew that his entire face was completely red.  
  
“Uhm, well. Yeah. Way to ruin the moment.”  
  
“No.”  
  
“No? What kind of answer is that ev-”  
  
Lance was interrupted when Keith kissed him. He took some time to process but then his mind screamed at him. _Keith kissed him!!!_  
  
He felt like he was going to combust, right here, right now. Instead, he chose to lift his arms and rest his hands on Keith's cheeks before he kissed him back.  
  
When they parted, Lance noticed to his amusement that Keith's face was completly red. And he told him so, earning a half-hearted shove from him.  
  
“Look into a mirror first, idiot.”  
  
Lance just laughed, knowing that it was true. Then he licked his lips and looked at Keith again.  
“Can we do that again?”  
  
Keith nodded, his entire face still in a deep shade of red. Lance pulled him close and leaned in for a kiss, but stopped to watch Keith closing his eyes and waiting for their lips to meet.  
  
“You're cute,” Lance whispered to him with a smile.  
  
“Shut up and kiss me already,” Keith muttered and Lance gladly complied.  
  


–

  
  
“Hey Shiro.”  
  
Shiro looked up from his papers. “What is it, Pidge?”  
  
“Did you intend for this two to grow so… close?”  
  
“To be honest, no. I just hoped that they'd stop fighting.”  
  
“And now they started dating instead.”  
  
“Seems like it.”  
  
“And they still fight.”  
  
“It's more of a bickering though.”  
  
Pidge sighed.  
“Congratulations on being an accidental matchmaker.”  
  
Shiro opened his mouth to reply when he heard voices from outside the office.  
  
“Lance. I swear to God, if you don't move your ass here _right now_ , you'll regret it.”  
  
“Admit it, Keith. You love that ass.”  
  
“True.”  
  
  
Shiro groaned and let his head fall onto his desk, earning a pitiful look from Pidge.  
  
What had he done?

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [writing blog](http://phantomdieb.tumblr.com/) ✨


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